


just for one day

by merlypops



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Healing, Hopeful Ending, Near Death Experiences, Siblings, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlypops/pseuds/merlypops
Summary: Max flinches when he raises his hand shakily and Billy hates himself a little more than usual. He reaches out anyway, brushing a strand of vibrant red hair away from the dried blood he left on her forehead.Billy gets a second chance.Based on "Heroes" by Peter Gabriel.





	just for one day

**Author's Note:**

> I just watched the finale of Stranger Things season 3 (big spoilers) and WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS ISN'T WHAT HAPPENED  
> HA  
> Haha  
> I am heartbroken

"Billy, get up. C'mon, Billy, please get up. _Please_."

Max's voice is echoing, soft and afraid beneath the distant screams of the fireworks; beneath the bloodcurdling roars of the monster that has held Billy hostage for so long.

"Max," he murmurs, body alight with agony, vision blurry with boiling tears. "I'm sorry."

He's slipping in and out of consciousness, and Max is sobbing over him, and the two kids behind are slumped on the floor together in each other's arms. One of them is the girl, Eleven. Billy doesn't know the boy's name.

He never cared enough to find out.

The screaming of the rockets is deafening inside the mall like this. The deafening beating sound of hundreds of military helicopters approaching cracks like thunder.

The monster is looming over them, about to strike. Billy's body is twisted and broken beneath it, and he wishes he had enough fight in him left to save Max… wishes that would be enough to fix even a tiny bit of the devastation he's caused since the day he arrived in Hawkins.

He feels flayed and raw beneath it; more vulnerable than he's ever been as Max shakes him weakly, crying desperately when her brother doesn't have the strength to get up.

' _Stay still_ ,' Billy thinks, eyes sliding shut as the fight drains away with his blood. ' _This will all be over soon._ '

But when he opens his eyes next, everything is _not_ over. The mall is gone and he can hear sirens and crying and shouts.

He is in the back of an ambulance. There are bandages covering the wounds to his torso. The veins in his exposed skin no longer look like they've been pumping ink through his body.

Against the odds, Billy is alive.

Max is sitting nearby, wrapped in a blanket as she peers out over the parking lot, watching the soldiers striding across the tarmac.

She is still crying but the horror has bled away from her bruised face now, to be replaced only with exhaustion.

"Max?" Billy rasps, coughing a little and cringing at the burning pain ripping across his chest. "How - how're we -"

"Alive?" Max's blue eyes flash with a mixture of relief and rage as she shifts closer, cheeks damp with tears. "The monster was dying. I dragged you out."

"Max -" Billy breaks off with a ragged gasp, aching with pain as his sister rises, keeping the blanket wrapped warmly around her narrow shoulders to fend off the chill.

"You owe me, you shit," she snaps, almost defiant, even as she reaches out with a trembling hand to entwine their fingers. "You scared me half to death."

"You saved me?" Billy's eyes are stinging with tears and he squeezes them shut; sees his mom on the beach for a moment… then sees a young Max, tiny and lost, and shunned by everyone… even him.

"You're gonna listen to me now, Billy," she says, each word sharp and angry. "Don't talk shit about my friends anymore. Leave Lucas the hell alone… and try not to get yourself killed again; okay, asshole?"

Max flinches when he raises his hand shakily and Billy hates himself a little more than usual. He reaches out anyway, brushing a strand of vibrant red hair away from the dried blood he left on her forehead.

"I'm sorry, Maxie," he breathes, words faint and heavy with exhaustion. "Sorry I hurt you. Sorry for everything."

"You asshole," Max repeats, blinking back tears as she strokes his sweaty curls away from his forehead. "Don't scare me like that again."

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sad about Billy and I am gonna go cry now.  
> Hopefully you didn't hate this. I am just having a lot of feelings.


End file.
